I took advantage of continuing decent weather to bag some more peaks on the Rainier 100 list, parking my van in the RV lot at Crystal Mountain and staging out of there. On Wednesday morning (8/9/23) I drove to the turnoff on Crystal Mountain Blvd to access the Norse Peak trail. This is a pleasant trail with views that open up as one climbs into the Norse Peak fire zone (2017). Highlights: talking to 3 immature elk and being photo bombed by a hummingbird. As I approached the summit there was a stiff wind but pleasant nonetheless. I wandered the flat summit area for a bit, then ran back down to the van. I checked in at the RV lot at 6 PM and set up shop...hot shower, snacks, meal etc. There were only 3 RVs in the lot so it was a quiet night. Stats: 10.5 miles/3100'

*Top of Chair 6 and Forest Queen lodge from Silver King Peak (6998’)*

Day 2 (8/10/23): Silver King (6998') The surrounding peaks were socked in when I awoke so I lounged for a bit that morning hoping for some clearing as the day progressed. Twice I had a mind to tag Silver King when I was skiing with a buddy, but each time there was a low cloud deck with no views from the Peak. It's a bit of a slog to get over there schlepping skis so didn't happen. On this day I took the Silver Creek trail to Elizabeth Lake, then proceeded to scramble up to the South Ridge to gain the summit. I looked down Brain Damage ski run, thinking you gotta have brain damage to board or ski that, or just mad skills. I'm lacking in at least one department there. After watching 2 C-17s go by on a low level, I transited the ridge towards Campbell Basin and descended to the lodge, hiking the road and some trails back to the van. Stats: 9.5 miles/3300'

*Crystal Lake and Rainier from the summit of Three Way Peak (6796’)*

Day 3 (8/11/23): Three Way Peak (6796') To access Three Way from Crystal, I once again took the Silver Creek Trail to a connector to the PCT, then proceeded south on the PCT to Three Way. Since the PCT transits the base of Three Way, anytime I looked up to see where the col was it all just looked the same...steep meadow to rock ridges. After contemplating a bit, I just started up below the summit, angling right as I went via appropriate crappy gullies until I intersected the "right" way. A short jaunt to the summit block with an airy step or two had me communing with the resident insects, which always seem to populate these summits. When I started the descent, I was thinking I would take the "usual" way down to the col, but although I transited the flattish sandy area described, the way off wasn't real clear...steep rock faces. So once again I committed to a crappy gully that eventually deposited me on the meadow above the PCT. Once again I trotted the entire way back (on excellent trail) to my van, and once again I took a hot shower, poured a glass of wine, made some munchies, watched a movie, made dinner, read a little and bedded down. Love that thing. Stats: 10 miles/2900'

*Mt Rainier from the summit of Chinook Peak (6904’)*

Day 4 (8/12/23): Chinook Peak (6904')/Crystal Peak (6595’) As this was a Saturday, I got up early and packed up the van to get to the Crystal Peak trailhead before the madhouse was in full swing. No problem getting a spot but I was surprised at the amount of traffic on 410 at 7:30 AM. I had breakfast and coffee and got on the trail around 8 AM and enjoyed solitude on the Crystal Peak trail, hopping off at the first switchback for Chinook. The sloping meadow area was not steep, in fact very pleasant, and I gained the ridge to Chinook to the right of peak 6706'. Chinook's description was "easy scramble", so I knew I was off on a class 3 section. Par for course for me it seems. I descended and contoured around the base some more until an obvious way presented itself. Despite the intimidating rocky pillars, the way up was indeed easy and I spent some time here (what, no bugs?) lounging and trying to ID peaks in the area. I could see the top of Chair 6 glinting in the sun, with Three Way and Silver King in view. The way back to the trail was gentle with huge views to the mountain with every step. The last time I was on Crystal Peak it was snowing so I thought I'd go take another look to see the views, the best of which is on the trail below the peak...an expansive 180 vista with the mountain in the middle; superb! As expected, there were a few people on the summit and I ran into increasing numbers of hikers as I ran back down to the completely packed parking area. Somehow I managed to back onto 410 and made my escape. Stats: 11 miles/4400'